Could riding less—or even not at all—actually make you a better cyclist? How much can you really improve with rest? After finding a study showing someone improved their VO2 max more after taking a long break from exercise, Dan Lloyd and Si Richardson got curious. 🤔
They discuss it in today’s show, plus, why they believe Tadej Pogačar might race Paris-Roubaix this year, how cycling could save your employer thousands, a major announcement with Core, Egan Bernal’s amazing first win since his crash, and more!
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⏱️ Timestamps: ⏱️
00:00 – Welcome to the GCN Show!
00:48 – This week in the world of cycling
03:02 – Should you take time off the bike?
11:09 – Cycling Shorts
11:17 – News from @canyon & Canopy
11:52 – Utah bill that might kill gravel & MTB racing?
13:11 – Cyclist fatalities in the U.S. are down
13:44 – Egan Bernal’s first win since crash
14:30 – Cycling to work leads to fewer sick days
18:07 – GCN+ mentioned among “best cycling movies & documentaries”
19:32 – Announcing our new partner, Core! 🎉#AD In association with Core
20:59 – Hack/Bodge of the Week
28:23 – Caption competition
30:04 – Comment of the week
35:23 – This week on GCN
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Has a long period of rest ever significantly helped your training, or made you a better cyclist?🚴 If so, how have you used what you learned? 🤓
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📸 Photos – © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Sirotti Images
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32 Comments
What's your philosophy on rest & recovery? Has a long period of rest ever significantly helped your training, or made you a better cyclist?🚴 If so, how have you used what you learned? 🤓
I frequently have time off the bike due to chronic illness. Unfortunately, I always have to restart my fitness at very low levels of HR output. Thankfully zwift helps a ton with the basic workouts to build my fitness up while controlling my environment better than the real world. Also. I am very proud that I am riding my 17th stage of Tour de Zwift currently. I should be able to get the 18th Friday. This is the longest stretch of being on the bike I have had in years.
It's a tough balance to build training but still rest enough before an event. I'm guessing that's the real finding from these anecdotes about taking time off the bike, that rest is really important and it's way too easy to overtrain or carry an injury into an event
The sick day bike commuter conclusion seems backwards. More sickly people aren't capable of biking to work and people who don't exercise and don't have any fitness aren't capable of just picking up and commuting to work
Paris-Roubaix 2016 the greatest moment in Australian cycling history
YES! Last October I fell (not off the bike, but over my son's dog!) and fractured my right kneecap… Doc said "no riding old man… I'm 78 next month)… I got back on the bike in January, with two ten-minute rides to get my Zwift app updated and the Tacx Neo 2 running again and I immediatley rode TdeZ Stage 1 (short course!) on its final day. Then I rode 2, 3 & 4 over the following 2 weeks with a few 45-50 minute Zone 2s thrown in to keep the blood flowing. Then I did a short 4.1k TT in Zwift Racing this last weekend and went faster than roughly the same race two years ago, and at a higher watts/kg… Came 3rd too! Does this mean I am over the age hump and getting younger again?
I live in Utah and I could not believe the bill that would slow down bikers. We all knew it would go away since road riding and mountain biking is big and brings a lot of tourist. But like you mentioned in the previous it can be dangerous for bike to go fast on some trails. In face I don’t ride on trails since around here they make them too narrow and there are too many walkers so it is easier and safer for everyone for me to ride on the road or I could go slow but I ant do that. Love the show keep it going
If Dan got roasted that bad, I think that means we need a cameo from the Brick. And hey, James on his new Chanel said subscribing was free, and I thought of Tom saying that all the time 😂, had not heard it in a while.
#CaptionCompetition: Well, this makes me feel like a GOAT.
I hate taking a day off let alone 12 weeks!
#CaptionCompetition: In 2025, rim brakes have been abandoned by the peloton, and Pablo Castrillo is still using MapQuest.
#captioncompetition: seems, not only my legs were burning recently 😵💫
The content has been A1 lately.
Comments about Dan, 😂 crying laughing.
Just a hint, Geraint Thomas might be available after this season… so if you're looking for former top 100 cyclists 😀 not to replace Dan though, just add some quality 😉
#captioncompetition Garmin “perform a U turn”
Looking forward to Dan's journey back to cycling; now he'll need to always wear a Core sensor to measure his skin to then calculate his core temperature for us all to learn from along the way! 🤔
You will have to do a short video edit on describing the 3d printed red chain ring contraption….good one guys, great hearing about an assortment of cycling related things from around the world,
#captioncompetition Pablo left a complaint because of road racing becoming more and more gravely. Later on he found out their response was a lot less figuratively than he thought, when they told him "it all goes Downhill from here".
I just read an article about Jempe Monsere the world road champ who was killed at an early age.
Apparently he cultivated an image that he didn’t train very hard and it all came easily to him. But he would get up at 6 in the morning go out ride hard for three hours, shower put on his dressing gown and when his mates came round say he wasn’t feeling to good and he’d leave it that day. When they’d gone he’d put on fresh training kit and go out behind advent for another two hours!
The article by Freddy Maertens finished with him commentating “it’s cycling you don’t get anything for nothing😊
@GCN and Dan Lloyd. YT channel roadcyclingacademy just did a video about low bone mineral density in road cyclists. We are often close to osteoporosis due to the non impact training we do. Jumps, running and weight training are mandatory for us and swimmers so Dan doing other types of training probably increases health and life span. Words and training to live by for all of us. 🎉
Adult admission: Everyone yoinks. 😊 Oh you were talking about bike theft, never mind. 😂
Dan. Please don’t turn pro next year or we will be competing for the same slot. 😂😂
Simon could use a comb… 🤨
Your sick days data was taken from the same website that offered a trick to communicate with your cat and a headline about a lost city found deep under the ocean.. 🤔 Check your sources? 😂
No more mention of the price hike to watch cycling. Shame on you
Oh no! Zwift Academy was so much better last year with Matt Stephens presenting (much to my surprise) …
#captioncompetition: google maps routes are so into gravel now they might even start charging for directions soon
I think it’d be pretty reasonable to expect employers in social democratic countries where workers are somewhat more respected, to introduce 4 extra paid days off for employees who cycle to work.
Pog did the same in 22 didn't he…. I remember he posted the photos…
Canyon is definitely doing a great job, but when a company uses a number like 65,000 kilos, there is no real way for us to understand what that really means with respect to their business. I like to see a percentage, what does 65,000 kilos look like as a percent? Is it 1%, 5% or 20%
I find that short breaks are really helpful when I'm training hard or pushing myself too much. IMHO, the harder the training, the more benefit you get from taking time off. While longer breaks (a couple of weeks) can feel good initially by reducing muscle soreness and fatigue, they actually hurt my overall performance. I lose more fitness than I gain.